Ronaldo rises to the occasion

Man Utd (2) 3 Man City (0) 1
The phantom Manchester diver was finally brought to book but to everyone's surprise, it was not Cristiano Ronaldo's collar that was felt but Manchester City's Bernardo Corradi.

The phantom Manchester diver was finally brought to book but to everyone's surprise, it was not Cristiano Ronaldo's collar that was felt but Manchester City's Bernardo Corradi. Or rather, it was neither Corradi's collar nor any other part of his kit that was felt before he blatantly threw himself down in the area in stoppage time, earning him a second yellow card from referee Graham Poll after an earlier booking for elbowing Nemanja Vidic.

One can only hope that it finally represented the start of a backlash against the cheats by referees who talk big about punishing villains but rarely do more than wag an admonishing finger. Poll has been vilified for his mistakes both at the World Cup and in recent weeks and missed a date here against Chelsea because of the latter's criticism of him, but he must be praised for his decision yesterday.

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As for Ronaldo, his manager Sir Alex Ferguson claims that he is more sinned against than sinning, or certainly more fouled against and the statistics support that view. Before this game, a remarkable 44 free kicks had been awarded for fouls on Ronaldo, twice as many as most Premiership players and topped only by the 49 given against Bolton's El Hadji Diouf, a self-confessed diver.

The season's 45th free kick against Ronaldo came after just 20 seconds when Joey Barton clattered into him and Claudio Reyna, substitute Stephen Ireland and our old friend Ben Thatcher, who ought to be on an ASBO after his act of GBH against Pedro Mendes of Portsmouth, all took turns to hack him down.

Ronaldo, criticised for the way he won a penalty at Middlesbrough last week, stayed upright as often as possible and used his dazzling feet, taped like a boxer's hands and just as deadly, to make his would-be tormentors lose theirs.

He made the opening goal with a cross that had more curl than a lawn bowls wood, causing Sylvain Distin's attempted clearance to turn into an air shot and leaving Wayne Rooney a routine finish for his 50th Premiership goal.

Fittingly, having picked up the Barclays player of the month award beforehand, Ronaldo applied the coup de grace himself, ending a nervous last 15 minutes for United by tapping in with the outside of his left foot when Rooney returned the compliment with a cross from the right. And to think those two were apparently ready to knock seven bells out of one another after the World Cup.

Victory established a nine-point lead for United over Chelsea at the top of the table, which means Ferguson can sit down with a nice bottle of claret to watch the champions play Arsenal this afternoon. He said: "I'm really looking forward to the game and I'll be supporting the Gunners. Hopefully, by Monday, we will be in an even better position."

At half-time, when United announced a post-match press conference involving Ferguson, chief executive David Gill and former Italian manager Marcello Lippi, there was speculation that old red cheeks was about to stand down. But it turned out to be just a chance for United to outline plans for a charity match against a European XI managed by Lippi, in which David Beckham is lined up to play, in March to celebrate the club's 50 years in Europe.

Ferguson had trotted out the familiar pre-match line about form going out of the window in derby games, but it has been kept pretty much in house for this one.

City last won here in 1974 with Denis Law's famous back heel and their fans, with their giant bananas, seem to be still living in the Seventies in memory of that.

This was, at least, one of the more competitive derbies in this stadium, even though it promised to be another one-sided affair when some appalling City defending, plus some Rooney quick thinking, set up Louis Saha for his 12th goal of the season right on half-time.

Georgios Samaras had scorned three first-half opportunities, but 18 minutes from time, Tunisian Hatem Trabelsi, a free transfer from Ajax in the summer, cut inside to score his first goal for the club with a memorable left-footed shot. It should have set up a thrilling finale, except that City did not just believe they could earn a point. As their manager Stuart Pearce put it: "We should have turned the screw a touch more, but we never quite got the game by the scruff of the neck."

One got the feeling, however, that he might have reached for that part of Corradi's anatomy afterwards, saying: "He went down too cheaply and I'll be having a word with him. Nineteen managers out of 20 would probably sit here and give you a cock and bull story, but I'm not like that. I thought the referee got it right."

A Premiership manager praising Graham Poll? Now that is a turn up for the books. What next? Ronaldo winning the Fair Play award?

Telegraph View

Man of the Match: Cristiano Ronaldo. Terrified City in the early minutes and his great cross made the opening goal for Wayne Rooney. Then settled United’s nerve by scoring the final one himself.

Moment of the Match: One that would have briefly warmed the heart of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. Hatem Trabelsi won the ball wide on the right and cut inside before beating Edwin Van Der Sar with a thunderous left footed shot.